Did you know?

Three years after selecting Heisman Trophy winner and future Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson, the Bills earned the dubious distinction (after finishing 1-13 in 1971) of getting the draft's first pick again. The draft crop in 1972 was referred to as "lean" and Buffalo ending up landing the player that was rumored to go No. 1, Notre Dame defensive end Walt Patulski.

He never developed into the star the Bills had hoped and was eventually traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Interestingly, three other other players drafted in the first round by other teams that year eventually found themselves in Buffalo during their careers.

The Cincinnati Bengals selected DE Sherman White second overall, the Cardinals took Bobby Moore (aka Ahmad Rashad) as the fourth pick, and the Miami Dolphins landed DT Mike Kadish with the second to last selection of the first round.

After four years in Cincinnati, White joined Buffalo where he starred for eight seasons. Rashad led the Bills in receiving in his lone season in Buffalo in 1974. Kadish, a teammate of Patulski at Notre Dame, was obtained by the Bills in a trade after spending his entire rookie year on Miami's taxi squad. He was one of Buffalo's top defensive players of the '70s.

Quotable:

"Had we had a first-round choice we probably would have gone for someone else," shared Bills Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy in recalling the 1988 NFL Draft.

"We badly needed a running back. Six running backs went off our board by the middle of the second round so we had to make a decision on a guy."

Fortunately for Levy and the Bills, they made the right choice when they selected Oklahoma State running back Thurman Thomas with the 13th pick of the second round, 40th overall.

Thomas sparked an offense that led the Bills to an unprecedented four straight AFC championships. He is the franchise's all-time leading rusher and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2007.